



of the legs and consequent distortion of the.

of the drawer strike frame 13 abut or fit into the rabbets 20 of the legs 11 and 12 with the bottom edges of the walls and of the uprights 21 adjacent the shoulders 18 of the legs, and said parts are then firmly and rigidly held together by tie and brace or locking members.

lln accordance with the present invention, combined tie and brace member-s or locking strips 30 are provided which are adapted to be engaged endwise in the channels 19 of the legs and with the complementary parts of the side walls 14 and 15 and drawer strike member 13 and draw these parts firmly and securely together. There is one connecting member 30 for each leg,-and each comprises a sheet metal strip rolled or otherwise formed into the shape shown, including a body part 31, a narrow web 32 extending at an angle along each edge thereof, and each web is first bent backwardly upon itself and then outwardly to form the narrow longitudinal recess 33, rounded shoulder or head 34 and oflset lateral edge portion 35, see Figs. 6 and 10. The connecting member is inserted and driven endwise into place, with the side wall flange 28 and one part 20 of the leg in one of the recesses 33, and the flange 23 of the strike frame and the other part 20 of the leg in the other recess 33 of the member 30, while the shoulders 34 thereof will engage the side walls of the leg. The edge portions 35 extend into and are forced against a corner of each channel 19 by the engagement of said shoulders 34 with the leg. The proportions of the shoulders 34 and edge portions 35 of the connecting strip are such that these parts require some force to drive them into the channels, thus bracing and stiflening the leg and holding the abutting parts rigidly in place in such a way that weaving or relative movement between the parts is prevented. The connecting members 30 extend diagonally across the hollow legs, and being interlocked with the flanged portions of the legs and also of the side walls and drawer strike frame, they tie together not only the sides of the legs, but also the side walls and front frame of the pedestals, and prevent the spreading pedestals. lln addition, the connecting members brace the hollow legsagainst collapsing and, therefore, make particularly sturdy and rigid corner constructions for the desk without increasing the weight of the desk, since because of the use of the combined ties and braces the parts connected thereby can be made of lighter stock. By forming the pedestals of the rigid outer walls or panels, drawer strike frames and legs, which are assembled by a simple lateral or abutting engagement, and then rigidly locking said parts by means of the internal connecting members, the exposed parts may be dip-painted or finished before assembly, as the finish will not be marred, and the only endwise connected or driven part is the internal connecting memher which does not need a finish.

The back wall 10 and rear edge of wall 14 are also provided with the vertical flanges 28 to permit them to be similarly connected by a connector 30 to the rear leg 16.

Each drawer suspension or guide frame 17 comprises front and rear uprights 38 rigidly connected by horizontal drawer guide rails 39 preferably of channel form, and as shown in Fig. 3, the suspension frames 17 are connected to the drawer strike frame and the side walls 14, 15 in parallel, spaced relation to the side walls in such a manner that these frames 17 form additional braces for stiffening and strengthening the pedestals A. 40 represents upright supporting members for the rear ends of the suspension frames 17. In the construction illustrated, each supporting member 40 consists of a vertical plate extending inwardly from the side wall and having a flange 43 rigidly attached thereto as by spot welding. The inner edge portion of the support 40 is bent to provide a vertical channel 44. Each of the uprights 38 of the suspension frames preferably consists of a metal plate which is rigidly attached to the guide rails 39, as by welding, and is bent to form an offset vertical channel portion 49. These channel portions are adapted to interlock with the channel portions 46 of the supporting members 40 and the channel parts 23 of the uprights 21 of the drawer strike frame so as to engage with at least one face and one edge thereof, by driving or sliding the frames 17 endwise downwardly over said parts The guide rails 39 preferably extend outwardly beyond the attached web portions of the uprights 38 so as to engage the channel flanges 44 of the supports 40 and the inner faces of the uprights 22, thereby providing the suspension frames with opposed parts engaging opposite sides of the members to which they are attached and thus form connections which rigidly secure the suspension frames against both lateral and endwise movement.

The suspension frames 17 are preferably secured from vertical movementon the pedestal between horizontal bottom and top plates 52, 53 respectively. The bottom plate closes the lower end of the pedestal A, and is connected to the front strike frame 13, side walls 14 and 15 and rear wall 10 so as to brace and stiffen the lower end of the pedestal, while the top plate stiifens the upper end of the pedestal by being connected to the frame 13 and side walls 14 and 15. As shown, the bottom plate 52 is formed with opposite, depending side flanges 54 which fit tightly between the inner faces of the side walls 14 and 15 and the upturned bottomedges 55 thereof. Similar flanges 56, 57 depend from the front and rear edges of the bottom plate and stiffen the latter. The flanged front end of lit) 

